


The Longest Wait

by dovingbird



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Friendship, Underage Flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-09 22:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1151417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dovingbird/pseuds/dovingbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been years since he’s seen her, but she’s rarely ever been far from his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Longest Wait

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a prompt response: "Colton has a concert in Shannon Magrane's hometown. They haven't seen each other since she was voted off, and they're genuinely excited to see each other."

His hair was wilting. Colton reached up and rolled a few chunky pieces of hair between his fingers, feeling the silkiness that felt so foreign to him after a few long weeks of tour. He'd become accustomed to the crunchy feel of hairspray instead.

He leaned back into the bus seat and let his eyes take in the palm trees that he was zooming past. Florida. Freaking Florida. His hair was wilting already, and it wasn't even noon yet. He smiled despite himself. He knew there was never a good time for vanity - he'd memorized it, in fact, especially over the last few extremely successful years - but there was a good reason for it today.  
  
He was having a concert in Tampa, Florida, and he found himself absently wondering if a certain someone was going to show up for it.  
  
"How far off are we, Joe?" he called.  
  
The bus driver glanced up at him in the rearview mirror. "Ten minutes from the arena, maybe."  
  
Colton nodded. "Making pretty good time," he said as he checked his watch. Better than good, actually. He wasn't supposed to be there for an hour. Thank God for lulls in traffic.  
  
Ideas started bouncing around in the back of his head. Well. This was as good a time as ever to put some into action.  
  
He looked toward the three sitting across from him, two playing Go Fish and one reading. Kyle the keyboardist, Jeanne the drummer, and Lee the guitarist. Good band. Great band, even. He stood up. "I'm heading to the back, if Lissa starts looking for me."  
  
"Got it," Kyle said with a quick thumbs up before throwing down a pair dramatically. "Ah-HA!"  
  
"Dammit!" Lee shouted, jamming his fist into the seat. "I was just about to ask for fours!"  
  
"Too slow!" Kyle teased back, and Colton was left shaking his head with a smile as he strolled to the back of the tour bus.  
  
They were cool cats, he'd be the first to admit that, but he found himself comparing them absently to a certain other group of people he'd spent a long time with just a couple of years before. The Idol crew was never too far from his thoughts, especially now that his album had dropped and he was receiving a relatively decent amount of success. He kept his eyes on the charts to follow the others: Phil's chart-topping record, Jess's number-one R&B single, Joshua's gospel track competing against Colton's own songs. They were all doing well. But there was one girl that he never saw mention of, and he found himself wondering why.  
  
He tossed himself onto his makeshift bed in the back and flipped onto his stomach, pulling out his cellphone. Seconds later, he was making the call.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey there."  
  
"Colton?! Geez, this is ironic!"  
  
He grinned and rolled onto his back. "Why's that?"  
  
"Because I'm currently finishing curling my hair for a certain concert I'm going to tonight."  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"You think I'd joke about that?"  
  
He closed his eyes and laughed, Shannon Magrane's face suddenly filling his mind's eye with her bright, vibrant smile. "I was just calling to invite you to have lunch with me. I didn't think I was gonna see you."  
  
She laughed too. "You're crazy. A big-time superstar like you comes to Tampa and I'm just gonna ignore it and not show?" she teased.  
  
"Stop it." But he grinned and covered his eyes, as if she could see the embarrassment on his face. "How soon can you be ready?"  
  
"Dude, like five minutes, seriously. Where are you?"  
  
"About to hit the arena."  
  
"Don't you have to get right to like hair and makeup and stuff?"  
  
"I'm actually not due for an hour. We left late last night and drove straight through because we were worried about traffic and-"  
  
"Say no more. Do you like shrimp?"  
  
He shrugged. "Love 'em."  
  
"Then get ready to eat the best freaking shrimp in your entire LIFE! I want you to meet me at Isabelle's Cafe. It's like two blocks from the arena. Just take a right at the entrance and walk straight, and it's gonna be on your left."  
  
His grin grew wider. Her effervescence was contagious. "I'll be there."  
  
"All right. Try not to get mobbed by all the fangirls."  
  
He rolled his eyes. "I'll try my best."  
  
"See you then!" And then she hung up.  
  
He stared at his phone for a moment before he felt the bus slow to a stop. He had the feeling that he really shouldn't be so excited about a little lunch date like this.  
  
He'd never been that good at math. But in seconds, he realized his brain was throwing together numbers, calculations, and coming up with a relatively satisfactory answer.  
  
Miss Magrane was going to be eighteen in a month.  
  
He slid out of the bed and shot toward the front of the bus, nearly trampling his manager in the process. "Colton?"  
  
"Lissa! Hey, we've got some free time, right?"  
  
Lissa quirked her brow and slowly nodded. "About an hour. Why?"  
  
"Awesome. I'm going out to lunch."  
  
His manager's eyes widened. "What, right now?"  
  
"Yep! I've got a friend I need to do some massive catching-up with."  
  
Her jaw dropped. "A-are you at least taking Andre?"  
  
"Lissa, seriously, I don't need a bodyguard. It's fine. I'm only going like a block away."  
  
"Colton, at least give me just a second to make sure our timetable's in order-"  
  
"Later!" He grinned and hopped off the bus.  
  
"Colton!" He heard Lissa calling behind him, but there was a pep in his step and a lightness in his heart that had him turning the corner before she could even get off the bus. He had a mission, and he wasn't going to give himself a second to change his mind.  
  
On any other day, he might have admired the seaside cafe. He might have grinned at the colors and the memorabilia and the pictures filling the walls, perhaps even introduced himself to the manager and thanked them for having such a super-amazing establishment. But today was not that day.  
  
"Just one today?" the hostess asked, her eyes a few degrees wider than normal.  
  
"Two, actually." He grinned at her. "It's a girl joining me. Long hair. Bright eyes. Loud voice."  
  
"Would I know her, Mr. Dixon?" the hostess teased with a smile as she led him to a table.  
  
"Only if you remember a Miss Magrane," he replied with a grin of his own.  
  
"All of Tampa does." She placed menus at two spots on the quiet table and gestured dramatically toward it as if she was Vanna White. "Enjoy your meal!"  
  
Colton plopped down at the table and tried to skim through the menu, but his heart was pounding in his chest. This could go one of two ways, and he was praying for the unembarrassing and impressive one.  
  
He glanced up at the right time. She was strolling toward the table, a bright smile on her face, a golden tan to her skin, the lights illuminating her curled hair. She was a movie star. She was the Madonna.  
  
She was incandescent.  
  
Colton jumped to his feet, but before he could think of what to do Shannon threw herself at him and hugged him tightly, squealing in excitement. "Coltooooooon! Oh my God, it's been WAY too long!"  
  
"A couple of years?" he asked with a smile. She smelled particularly great today. He found himself wondering if he was the reason.  
  
"A couple of weeks was too long," she said, finally letting go of him and beaming. "I nearly forgot your face."  
  
He didn't think it was possible to forget hers. He decided to keep that little tidbit of info to himself. "How's it look?" he asked, turning his head this way and that and waggling his eyebrows.  
  
She stepped back and tapped a finger on her lips as she drank him in. He felt a little thrill of anticipation as he followed her eyes. "Still as homely as ever," she decided.  
  
"Shut up." He laughed as he scooted toward the table. "All right, Magrane, tell me what's good."  
  
"The shrimp scampi. Jesus Christ, it's amazing." As she sat, he sat as well, his eyes never moving from her face. "Or the lobster roll. But the shrimp. The SHRIMP, Colton. I know you wanna know what it feels like to die and go to heaven. You need to pick the shrimp."  
  
"How about this. You order for me."  
  
She grinned and clapped her hands together once. "Perfect! Oh man. The only way you could've made me happier is if you let me give you a makeover."  
  
"Next time," he teased with a smile.  
  
"I'm gonna hold you to that, you know."  
  
The waiter came and went, and Shannon ordered him an obnoxious amount of shrimp, as far as he could tell. It sounded inhuman, how much shrimp they were going to fit on that plate of his. But through it all he took her in, every little thing about her, from the little dimples that popped up when she smiled to the crinkles at the edges of her eyes.  
  
When the waiter vanished, there was a brief moment of silence at the table, and Colton took advantage of it. "Shannon...tell me something. Why haven't I seen you going after music?"  
  
She stared at him for a moment before she shrugged and looked down with a smile. "Because...oh God, this sounds stupid."  
  
"No, tell me." He was basically rippling with curiosity.  
  
"I-I...wanna finish school." She laughed. "I know that like eleventy billion people have just dropped out of school and gone on to do music, but I've got this weird lingering feeling that if I did that I'd end up tanking, and then I'd have to pull a Gary Coleman and work as a security guard or something." Colton was quiet for a long moment, sorting through his thoughts, and Shannon looked up at him again, a soft blush on her cheeks. "...too soon?"  
  
"What? Oh, no." He chuckled and waved her off. "No, not offended or anything. I'm just...wondering what you want to do in life."  
  
"Oh, music, of course! But I'm also thinking...you know, maybe going to vet school, getting a safety net under me-"  
  
"Those who have a fallback invariably do," he said softly, quirking a brow.  
  
She bit her bottom lip and stirred her water with her straw. "...quote?"  
  
"Probably. I can't remember where from, though." He watched her stir. The sudden compulsion to reach over and take her hand was almost overwhelming.  
  
She was quiet for a long time, giving Colton ample time to resign his thoughts to a quick prayer on her behalf. She interrupted it without warning. "What do you think I should do, then?"  
  
He leaned back in his chair and rubbed the slight scruff on his cheeks, frowning. "...I can't tell you that, Shannon. Except that I think you need to go after your dreams like a crazy woman. I don't want you to wake up one day in the future and wonder what you could've had if you'd just jumped when you had the chance."  
  
She stared at him intently. The warmth in her eyes stirred a blush of his own, and he smiled sheepishly as he shrugged. She responded with a slow nod. "You're...right. Maybe. Or maybe you're not and you're just biased. I mean, look at you." She laughed. "You've got a show here tonight. You're gonna blow the roof off that place. I mean, I came prepared and everything. I'm ready to be down there with the rest of the fangirls singing your songs and the top of my lungs-"  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
She looked down, biting her lip as she smiled, and sighed softly. "...I let go of your hand...to help you understand...when you were all alone, I was never gone."  
  
His eyes slid shut without any warning at the sweet, jazzy tone of her voice singing the familiar words and spinning them around his mind. It took his breath away.  
  
He basked in the soft afterglow of the phrase, already destined to become a distant memory in the back of his mind, before he realized that she was speaking. "You still going to be on tour in April, Colton?"  
  
He cleared his throat and opened his eyes. "No, I'll have just gotten finished. Why?"  
  
She grinned, tilting his head to the side. "Because I want YOU to be my senior prom date."  
  
He blinked before sitting straight up in his chair, eyes lighting up. "Seriously?"  
  
"Dude, are you kidding? I can't think of a better date! And let's be honest, I'm gonna need a ton of advice around then. Might be handy to have you around for a weekend." Shannon said with a smile.  
  
He sat back in his chair and exhaled, feeling a buzzing adrenaline dance around in the base of his stomach. "...yes. Totally yes."  
  
"Yay!" She clapped her hands together again and bounced in her chair. "Oh my gosh, Colton, it's gonna be the most fun in the history of the world! We're gonna get a limoooo and we're gonna go get fonduuuue and we're gonna..."  
  
He let her go on and smiled as he listened. A prom date. Okay. He could do that. And maybe, just maybe, he could make something else happen.  
  
He liked Florida, wilting hair or not, he decided. He liked it very much.  
  



End file.
